BY SAM ALFAN.
Nairobi businesswoman has moved to court challenging guidelines issued by Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge categorizing the class of deposits of the new notes.
Barbara Georgina Khaemba through lawyer Ng’ang’a Nyaga says the said directives are prejudicial and discriminatory to the depositors.
Georgina says she is a businesswoman without a bank account and holds all her money in a personal safe whose extent is not limited in law and can amount to monumental figures.
“The said policy and guidelines are highly prejudicial to Georgina and other class of few persons categorized by the Central Bank of Bank and CBK Governor Njoroge as having old Sh 1000 bills amounting in excess of Sh 5,000,000 as having set in the petition,” says lawyer Nyaga.
Barbara says the CBK and the Governor issued new banking policy and regulations with strict compliance deadline of October 1,2019.
She added that the said policy and guidelines are prejudicial to her and other class of few persons categorized by CBK as having lots of old Sh 1,000 currency bills amounting in excess of Sh 5,000,000 who then require investigation and endorsement before such notes are exchanged for the new generation notes thus setting the stages for infringement of the petitioners right of protection against discrimination.
Lawyer Nyaga urges that his client is engaged in various economic activities.
She said announcement by CBK governor during Mandaraka celebration that the holder of Sh 1,000 bills of up to Sh1,000,000 will go to the nearest Kenya Commercial Bank and exchange the same for new generation notes.
“By profiling holders of money as set in the CBK presupposes that holders of the banknotes of Sh 1000 amounting to excess of 5 million like her is dirty money must necessarily be involved in fictitious economic activities thus imputing prior guilt before individuals can be allowed to exchange the old Sh 1,000 notes with the new one’s,” reads the court papers
Njoroge further said holders of 1 million to 5 million will be required to necessarily have a bank account through which the exchange to the new generation notes will be done subject to the senior management of the bank branch or alternatively seek the endorsements of the central bank before proceedings to exchange the notes in a commercial bank if they do not hold a bank account.
The Governor also announced that any other person with or without a bank account who shall be in a possession of currency notes of an amounts exceeding Sh 1 million will require the endorsement of the CBK before exchanging notes.
CBK intimated their resolve to make it difficult for individuals holding large sums of money to exchange the said money as aforesaid with an aim of curtailing the cleaning of the ” dirty or blood money’.
